For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 05, 2019

“Hey! Get your hot dogs here! Hot Dogs!” Keep up the patter Patterson!

even when I work at my Salvation Army donation trailer after being all caught up sorting things before the next donor arrives, it does get pretty boring

Happy Civic Holiday!

Awww. His first boss chew-out. A memory to remember………..then forget forever.

You’re supposed to be booming with “Want yummy hot dogs? We’ve got the best!” Perhaps watch the dogs cooking on the skewers, check condiments for refills, check the napkin dispensers, the dog paper holders and wraps, etc. Not stand there and ponder/daydream. Well, Mike is a writer and writers are thinkers. We are seeing the beginning of his career.

You won’t earn money for college or money to play with daydreaming.

Let’s face it Walt, this is a sales job at its core. I’ve learned that being good at sales requires a very special knack. Some have this knack, while others (like myself) do not.

Apparently “What’s it all about?” is earning money——

Back in my “Temp” days, I had an assignment to support a group; I was to answer phones and do typing. The problem was, everyone in the group answered their own phones and typed their own papers. I literally had to just sit there for 8 hours. I was FINALLY given a cool project to do: they needed to hire someone, but wanted to hire strictly on their resume, so I had to take all of the applicants’ resumes and hide anything that said anything about gender, race, etc. While that particular task was kind of fun, I couldn’t wait until that gig was over.

Well, that answered his question.

Unfortunately that type of attitude follows you know matter what type of job you have. I was making pretty good money as a color matcher for an automotive paint manufacturer where management would from time to time have us “look” busy when we really weren’t. Sometimes that used to tick me off as I would be recharging my batteries after running around like madmen trying to get things done.

What I always liked was a big boss coming and the word comes down to clean up your desk so it looks like you are doing NOTHING!

Yea! This is the lesson that most fail.

Business problem #1: Either nothing going on or too busy to give good customer service.

Lynn’s Comments:

Here’s an interesting note about the animated version of this story: Animation is an extremely expensive way to make a moving picture. The studio often runs out of money, which is when some awful compromises are made. By the time we got to this scene, we were told that there was no more money for animation, the storyboard imagery would have to be cut, and that the fact that Michael was on a busy street corner with people and cars going by would have to be “fixed in post.” This means that the editor, camera operator and people in the sound department (post production), would have to make the busy street “happen” without the visual imagery. If you watch the film you will see that every time there is a close-up of Michael and the hot dog stand, there is a flurry of sound. Cars, horns, people walking, dogs barking…all these sounds are inserted and the viewer believes that a load of activity is going on. Then, when there is a long shot, showing the hot dog stand from across the street, for example, there is nothing going on in the background at all! This was a very clever way to eliminate a lot of expensive work. This happened far too often when we did the animated shows and the results weren’t always successful. The words, “fix it in post” are a joke in the industry, meaning that a studio will often leave the most impossible “fixes” to the post production crew!

What’s he suppose to do? Juggle wieners?

Interesting that his boss hovers while letting Michael run the stand. Isn’t the idea to pay Michael so the boss man can have some free time?

I get it, that’s funny.